Merchandise has become rather dangerous, as not only do early leaks tend to reveal the first look at characters long before they were originally meant to drop, such as Thor: Love and Thunder‘s Gorr the God Butcher, but it seems they are also spoiling massive aspects of upcoming series. Netflix has been hyping up its fourth season of Stranger Things, which will release in two parts this year. Yet, it turns out that massive plot points have been leaked through the officially licensed board game. While Netflix seems unhappy, the series’ creators, The Duffer Brothers, are having a “total meltdown” over the leak.
The monopoly game is not leaked early but was able to be “purchased fair and square by a consumer,” which adds to the frustration surrounding these plot points being included. It seems like this version is now already on eBay while retailers try to hold back on the variant for the fourth season. The problem seems that the scale of Netflix’s production led to someone potentially accidentally letting it ship early. So, if you’re actively avoiding spoilers of any kind, be sure not to purchase the officially released Monopoly tie-in board game.
Still, it’s frustrating for the creatives involved as tie-in merchandise have become a general source for leaks and reveals. Funko Pop listings have become popular teases of character reveals and confirmations, which normally would’ve been hidden until the last second. Jon Favreau famously did not allow a single design of Baby Yoda to find its way to any merchandise manufacturer to ensure this wouldn’t happen, which led to a massive pre-order crash after his reveal.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
